Batman #41 Recap/Review

Batman #41 Recap/Review – Witness the All-New Batman!

A man sits alone, on a park bench.

Elsewhere, an electrical being is terrorizing Gotham. The police are on the scene, but an officer is panicking. Commissioner Sawyer says that this is just another Monday in Gotham, and orders everyone to give it some room. Help is on the way…

Batman #41 Comic Book Recap

The new Bat-signal shines down on the monster. These days, it is like the whole city has been turned upside down. But some things never change. The new Batman swoops down. Today, he is not Jim Gordon. Not anymore. Right here, right now… he is Batman. The new Dark Knight battles the monster, but his attacks don’t affect the strange being, who is easily able to fling the mech suit into a nearby building.

Jim Gordon thinks back to how all this started. Three months ago, the man was approached by a woman named Ms. Powers, who has begun a new program. Some of Gotham’s best officers are training to be the new Batman. Many of them would be a tougher and smarter hero than Jim Gordon could ever be, but none of them would be the right Batman. Gordon knows the city better than anyone else, and at the end of the day, Batman was always just a man. The right man, at the right time. But Gordon refuses the offer, and says it is just not going to happen.

In the present, Batman is struggling against the monster. His contacts, including Ms. Powers and Julia Pennyworth, are certain that an EMP will destroy the creature, but it fails three times. Batman realizes this is all a big trick, and the attacker is being operated from a distance.

Flashing back, Gordon talks over the offer to be Batman with Officer Bullock, who thinks it is all a joke. But Gordon is starting to wonder what kind of good Batman could do if he worked within the law, not outside of it. Bullock tries to talk him out of it, saying that the GCPD can do better than how they handled the last Joker attack, and that he is certain one of the cadets would make an excellent Batman. Besides, Gordon is 46 years old, he smokes, and Bullock is pretty sure they don’t make ten-foot trench coats for mech suits. Their conversation is interrupted when one of the cadets comes up to the roof. He needs to make a call to his son, who is only eleven months old. Looking at Gordon, Bullock sees that this just made up his old friends mind. He takes Jim’s cigarette, as Batman can’t smoke, and points out that Gordon will need laser eye surgery.

In the present, Batman is able to track down the man controlling the energy monster. However, a truck is flung into the air by the rampaging threat, and Batman is crushed under it…

Months ago, Jim inspected the new Batsuit, and comments that it looks an awful lot like a bunny rabbit. But Julia says it grows on you. Ms. Powers introduces the young woman to Julia Perry, who came highly recommended by both Lucius Fox and Wayne Enterprises, but had no original ties to Batman, which everyone thought would be best. She also introduces Gordon to Daryl Gutierrez. The suit is made out of Nano-carbon, and features multiple new compounds and elements developed by Ms. Powers’ company. Daryl shows Gordon that the suit can change colour as well, and as they over different colours, Jim remarks that none of this feels like Batman. But Ms. Powers says if he wants to be a part of this, he’s just going to have to accept that.

The man controlling the monster is pleased. His construct retrieves the Bat-suit, and the criminal prepares to kill his hostage. But before he can do so, a tiny Batarang knocks him out, and Batman emerges from the shadows to save the day. The hostage is grateful and Jim thinks back one last time to three months ago. Ms. Powers told Gordon that this will be a very new and different Batman. He won’t be police, but he will work with them and the local government. He’ll be a Batman with checks and balances. A better Batman, or at least one better for Gotham at this moment. Something new and inspiring.

Gordon returns to his new apartment, which is part of the Powers facility. It will be his home, and his cave. He’ll have to train, and transform himself. As Gordon returns home, he finds a ten foot trenchoat courtesy of Harvey Bullock. Jim smiles, and wonders what the hell they have done…

A man sits alone on a park bench. Another man walks by, and notices something about the man on the bench. The passerby asks if his name is Bruce Wayne…

Batman #41 Comic Book Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island! My name is Arden, and this is my recap, and review, of Batman #41!

Well now, wasn’t this interesting. I remember stating all smugly during the end of well, Endgame there was no way that crazy story was going to stay in continuity. And, I mean, I still stand by that. If any of this matters at all in even five years I’ll eat my hat! No comics are too fluid for that sort of thing these days, and that is all too clear with this comic’s ending. Bruce Wayne is already back, so it is all but guaranteed that things are pretty much going back to normal sooner or later.

But the fact that for now, this is otherwise staying in continuity is pretty awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this comic. The mech suit still looks pretty silly to me, and the idea of Jim Gordon being Batman seemed off. It seemed unlike Jim to operate outside of the law, and thankfully, they didn’t go in that direction.

That’s what I really liked out of this comic. This really feels like a new Batman. Greg Capullo and Scott Snyder are telling a different story with a new character here, and you can see it in the writing and art. There’s a lot more humour in the story, and the art is significantly brighter and more colourful. It still feels like a Batman comic, but with a very different sort of Dark Knight. One that I’ve never seen before, and featuring some pretty compelling new characters along with it.

Once you put yourself in this mindset, this becomes a pretty awesome comic. I wasn’t sure if I even liked it at first, but I’m starting to really dig the idea and it kind of won me over. Oh, there are problems, like I still have a hard time believing Jim Gordon, at age 46, would really be capable of being Batman no matter how much he quits smoking. And there are some choices with the story I could do without, like the ending of this comic, but on the whole, I’m willing to give the creative team the benefit of the doubt. And maybe an older Batman will raise the stakes quite a bit. Gordon won’t be the perfect expert of everything that the old Batman was, which raises the stakes. It was getting to the point that it was impossible for Bruce Wayne to make mistakes without fans crying foul, but now, Gordon is going to have to rely heavily on tech and his own abilities, which are far more limited than Wayne’s. Outside and inside of his mech suit, he’s going to face real danger with actual risk.

Oh, and yeah, while that mech does look silly, how amazing is this new Batsuit? This was a crazy awesome surprise, and I just love everything about this new outfit. It’s instantly recognizable as Batman, and I even like the cool stun gun thing Gordon is using. If for no other reason, it’s worth getting this comic just for that epic reveal. It was so awesome.

The only thing that really bugs me about this comic is that damn ending. It’s okay and completely unsurprising that Bruce Wayne is back, but I’m worried I’m about to get all excited for a new Batman and DC is just going to sweep the idea out from under us and bring the original Batman back in like 10 issues. But it is possible that Bruce is one eye down after his fight with the Joker, and Jim Gordon is going to have to fill in as Batman for quite some time. So I’m approaching this new direction for the Batman comics with cautious optimism, but a bit of frustration as well.

Regardless, I recommend you check out this comic for yourself… it’s really something else. And let me know what you think of all this, because if you can’t tell from this review, I still don’t know what to make of all this. Say what you will about this comic, but it’s actually quite thought provoking and I’m eager to see more. And as always, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.

Batman #41 Recap/Review